2011-01-18 - Alien Invasion? - We Kind of Won!
The orders came in this morning: take up a jet and investigate the UFO. SO, Warbird and Iron Man have answered the call. Warbird's piloting the Sentinel 1, and they've taken the ship up into space to check out the craft. It's accelerated, now past Mars, and so they're intercepting it just outside of planetary orbit. As they draw near, the heavily armed saucer comes into view. "Y'know," Warbird comments grimly, "I'd really prefer if this thing would show a constant velocity. This random acceleration trick just pisses me off." She glances to Iron Man, then back to her instruments. "So, think we're gonna get to blast open this alien tin can? No offense to the local variety, of course." "It could be a standard evasive. It is quite possible whoever they are, they expect hostility." Although he could fly himself, he wasn't about to argue with Carol when she insisted on taking the controls. It's hard with the suit on, anyway. "And I hope not. I rather hope that they are just...lost." Superman is seated in one of the back seats of Sentinel 1. He almost looks uncomfortable to be seated and not flying himself, but it simply made more sense for one ship that could carry them all. He leans forward in the seat resting his forearms on his thighs as he looks past Carol and out the front viewing screen. "With no offense to your experience, sir, but if that craft was merely lost, I am going to suspect it is lost from a fight. It does not look like a peace keeping vessel." The vessel looms large before them by the time Warbird kicks off the main engine and the maneuvering thrusters take over. She fires off on the port side, swinging them around in a wide arc to the right with the nose staying pointed at the ship. "We're fully within range, now," she pronounces. "Iron Man, begin scans and prepare to offer first contact on all frequencies." Outside, the craft begins to get ahead of them, forcing Carol to re-engage the main engines and take up a close pursuit course. "Working on it." Scans...a good thing, that. Every frequency he's managed to jam scanners for onto this craft is activated. For a moment, the helmeted head turns towards Superman. Then back to his task. He's heard the guy has serious super senses, but can't believe they'd be better than his technology. Superman stands up from his seat and moves to stand behind Warbird and Iron Man. One hand rests on the back of Iron Man's chair. He looks intently out the viewing portal at the ship they are pursuing. He is silent for a little bit before speaking up. "Those engines of theirs are putting out a tremendous amount of energy from what I can see. My guess is that they are either running from something or are in an awful big hurry to get to Earth which would seem to exclude an attack. Why outrun your support?" He looks down at Iron Man's scanners as the Armored Sentinel does his own scans. Warbird's frown deepens at Superman's words, and she keeps a steady pursuit on the UFO, staying well within visual and sensor range. "The whole thing could be a bomb for all we know," she argues. "What if it's designed to penetrate outer defenses, then release some kind of broad atmospheric attack? We need to establish contact or stop it. Those are our orders." As for the unknown craft, it finally displays its ability to respond by scanning the Sentinel 1 in return. The computer trills a warning to identify this fact, and Warbird gives a growl of annoyance. "I can't evade the scan without risking losing them," she points out. "I need to know if we can communicate with them. If not, I'm targeting their engines with our missiles." "I've tried every frequency we have. Completely ignored. It might be that they don't use radio to communicate, but I've even tried modulated light." It's definitely responding, just...doesn't seem to want to talk. "Perhaps," begins Superman as he takes a step back from the pilot seats, "I could swing around in front of it and force it to slow down? Can we open the doors while moving this fast and in outer space?" He looks towards the pair for the answer. "Or perhaps there is an airlock on board? I can survive out there and try to slow it down without having to use the missles and become an obvious threat?" Warbird glances back to Superman as he speaks, still considering Iron Man's response. Then she gives a brisk nod. "All right. Get into the ventral airlock, and I'll blow you out into space. See if you can slow them down or stop them, and we'll keep on their tail. If you need to break away and evac, though, do it -- I'll know if you do then we need to regroup and try something else." She hits a button on the console, and a section of the floor outlines with light, beginning to slide open. "That's the airlock. Get ready." "I definitely like that better than missiles," Iron Man comments. Of course, the suit's spaceworthy, but it does seem smart to let Superman do this. Something the guy's likely to be pretty good at. Superman takes a deep breath and steps towards the opening in the floor. As it opens, he goes through the airlock quickly. With no atmosphere or fear of sonic boom, Superman accelerates quickly in the vacuum. He is speeding past Sentinel 1 and is overtaking the alien ship. He takes a close arc around the hull to avoid the energy exhaust and swings around in front of it. Holding up his hands, he attempts to *catch* the speeding saucer as he acceleates towards it. He couldn't penetrate it when he was hear before so he believes that he will not seriously damage the ship, but hopes to slow it down with his own strength. The airlock cycles, so as Superman shoots out into space, the cabin pressure is maintained. As the Kryptonian catches the front end of the saucer, there would be a very loud impact -- except this is space, and all remains silent. Even so, a heavy shudder passes through Superman's frame, and though the UFO does begin to slow, it'll take everything he has to keep it from pushing past him or sliding free from his grip. Inside, Warbird turns the stick hard, engaging maneuvering thrusters at maximum power to keep from shooting past the other ship. She manages to get them circling it again, but there's little else she can do for the moment. "Be careful," Iron Man warns. "I believe they may be powering up weapons." So much for the ship not being hostile. "And that ship is carrying far too much energy." No. He is not so keen on this. The strain on Superman's face is apparent if the viewers can get that close on board the ship. The sensors on board will pick up Superman's vitals going up from the strain of trying to slow down the ship. He slowly tries to turn the ship with his hands and hopefully cause to slow more as the engines will fire in a different direction from the momentum. He is also trying to get close enough to one of the weapon spots to grab at the cannon without losing grip. Not an easy thing to do as he learns what bugs on windshields feel like. The particle stream propelling the ship along shifts direction even as Superman rotates it, so that while its path wobbles a bit it stays generally aimed at the Earth. Superman's determination keeps him hanging on, but even as he reaches for the nearby cannon it lights up and begins firing a focused plasma burst in his direction. He'll be able to disable it if he acts quickly, but it's now definite that non-hostile interaction is off the table. Inside the Sentinel 1, Warbird cries out, "Iron Man! Target their weapons systems and fire at will." As far as she's concerned, their orders are now clear: disable the ship before it reaches the atmosphere. "On it." He's handling the gunnery...although he'd be better with the suits actual weapons than those of the jet. "So much for the hope that they would not be hostile." Or it. Maybe it's a drone. There might not even be a crew on the thing. Superman is struck by the plasma burst and is sent hurtling backwards into space. He turns and takes a straight line towards the nearest cannon. Both fists are extended out in front of him as he attempts to drive through the offending cannon. Superman's charge wrenches the turret around, wrenching it slightly free of its housing. This opening proves just enough so that when the missiles launched by Iron Man impact, the mechanism can't quite take the pounding. So, with a sudden burst of energy, the weapon port explodes outward. Warbird is forced to bank to one side, the starboard thrusters firing full, to avoid the resulting blast. "Superman, move clear!" she transmits to her teammate's earpiece, just before -- That explosion must have caused a chain reaction of some kind, because abruptly the entire ship explodes! Within seconds, a bright burst of light fills the void around them, and then all that remains are millions of small bits of debris, sweeping out in all directions. Many are thrown into the Earth's atmosphere, catching fire and possibly burning up on their way down. The rest simply dissipate farther and farther away, leaving only a bit of drifting, twisted metal in its wake. Iron Man's hands clench as he lifts them from the controls. "This is not over." It might seem to be, but he is not willing to bet the planet on that NOT being an advance scout they just destroyed. Superman is tossed back into the atmopshere before he is able to control his flight again. He flies back towards where the ship had been. He looks about with his X-Ray and keen vision as he tries to see any bits that might be salvaged and studied. The twisted wreck of the ship's frame could be recovered with fair ease. The rest, there simply isn't enough time to get the kind of equipment necessary to gather such small pieces. Sensors and senses alike will indicate no sign of any additional ships, either. It seems that all that power this ship was packing just overloaded it, like a match on a powder keg. "It might have been an advance scout," Warbird agrees with Iron Man, "but there's no telling. I almost wonder if it were an automated drone, maybe carrying so much energy to either serve as a weapon or... maybe some kind of anchor point for an FTL gateway?" It sounds like science fiction, but stranger things have indeed happened. "No detectable organic debris. I suspect an automated ship. Let's see what we can salvage and go home." Iron Man...not convinced this is over, but that's a GOOD reason not to hang around out here. Superman grabs hold of the ship's frame and pulls it close enough to Sentinel 1 where a tractor beam can lock on to it. He swoops around underneath and triggers the airlock. A moment or two later he is back on board the ship and lets out the breath he had been holding while out in space. "That was too easy," he says obviously echoing his comrades sentiments. "Were there any life signs or remnents of a crew as it exploded? It seems like it was simply sent as a red herring." "Nothing we could detect," Warbird answers Superman, attaching grappling arms to the debris and pulling what she can in to take it down for study. "Iron Man, can you drop a probe before we go? I want to know if anything changes around here. Once you've done that, we'll go home -- I should report back to command and let them know that our mission succeeded, even if not ideally." She looks back to Superman again, then. "You all right? That was a pretty big boom, even for you." "Launching a probe now." Iron Man remains apparently emotionless. Professional. Of course, most of its the effect of the voice modulator, hiding whatever he might be feeling. "I will survive," Superman says with a wave of his hand. He walks towards the pilot seats and looks down at the scans and then out at the wreckage being grappled and taken under tow. "I do not like this. It feels....I don't have the proper word for it," he says with a shake of his head. "I cannot see the point of this. Obviously it was never intending for a return mission with the engines running as hot as they were. This makes no sense to me from any angle." Shaking her head, Warbird waits for the probe to clear the ship before she responds. "I think you're looking for 'it stinks,' Superman. And it does. It reeks of 'unresolved,' but there's nothing else we can do for now." She hits the maneuvering thrusters, spinning the shift to face the Earth, then she accelerates toward the planet, taking them down and into the atmosphere. Soon, they will begin study of the wreckage. Warbird will report to their superiors. Business as usual will resume. Yet, all around them, unseen and undetected by their instruments, tiny bits of debris rain down through the atmosphere with them, following their wake and dissipating over the area where they go to land: Manhattan. Category:Logs Category:Alien Invasion?